Page 108 of Hot Shot

I glare at him, my nostrils flaring when I exhale. “Fine.”

He nods, glances down. Shakes his head.

On paper, Davis is a douchebro trust fund baby. Entitled and thoughtless, lying so he can have everything he wants at theexpense of anyone he needs to get what he wants. And those things are true.

The problem with Davis is that while heisthe villainous rich boy we’ve been talking shit about for months, he’s faceted with a gentle nature, a soft soul, oblivious to his entitlement, blind to all the ways he quietly manipulated me over the years. Clueless about disregarding what I wanted, what I needed, in favor of whathewanted. He somehow had no idea he did it.

Until it went up in flames, I didn’t either.

We never fought, not until the wedding. And until Wilder, I believe he loved me. Or at least he believed he loved me.

I know better now. I’ve been loved better now.

He still hasn’t spoken. Now that he has the floor, he doesn’t seem to know what to say.

“Davis.”

He sighs, shakes his head. “I just, I thought about what I’d say the whole way, here. But now that I’m standing in front of you I don’t know what to say other than I’m sorry. I put you through so much. You know, when all this started, when we first met, I didn’t…I just didn’t realize how important you’d become to me. I didn’t realize I’d love you like I did.”

The scoff I scoff shakes the shingles.

“And the lie just kept going and going and got bigger and bigger until I was caught in it. There was no way out. I just had to try and keep up the pretense, because if one card fell, the whole thing would come down.”

I brush away the feeling that I understand the situation, because I’m in a house of cards of my own.

“How could I tell you after all that time? Dad pressured me to get married, and it made you so happy, and I…” He looks miserable.Good.“I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I lied. I wish I’d been braver. More like you. If I had, maybe?—”

“Maybe you would have only lied to me for a year instead of ten? Davis, you had plans to lie and cheat and disrespect me for the rest of our lives whether youmeantto or not. There is nothing you can do to make what you did right. So if you came here for absolution, you’re shit out of luck.”

The way he looks at me, his face tight with emotion and longing and sorrow, cuts to the bone. Because it’s honest. Which makes it so much worse when he says, “I loved you, you know. I loved both of you.”

“But you only lied to me.” It takes all of my control to keep my voice steady. “What do you want, Davis?”

He swallows and looks up. But before his gaze reaches my eyes, it catches my left hand and the ring that now lives there. He blinks.

“What is that?” On his face, again, is betrayal.

The sight kicks over that hot, boiling pot in my chest, spilling the contents all over me. There’s not an inch that isn’t furious.

He won’t even let me have betrayal for myself. He has to take that too.

“What,this?” I hold up my left hand and wiggle the offending fingers. “Oh, it’s just my newnone of your fucking business. What do you want, Davis?”

“You’re engaged?” He says it like a curse.

“No, she’s married, motherfucker,” Wilder yells from inside. “To me.”

I turn to give him another look through the screen door. He puts his hands up in surrender and turns in the direction of the kitchen, but I very much doubt he’s gone. The comfort empowers me.

Davis is gaping. “Married? Tohim?”

“He didn’t stutter, did he?” I note. “My mom didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

I almost laugh at the knowledge that she set him up, sending him here unaware to find out while Wilder was present. She probably wanted to see him punched in the nose just as much as Wilder wanted to be the one who throws the punch.

“It’s actually a funny story. See, I never told you about how when we were eighteen, we got married in Vegas, just for one night.”

---